Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to the field of combustion burners and methods of use, and more specifically to burners, submerged combustion melters, and methods of their use, particularly for melting glass forming materials.
Background Art
Oxy-fuel burners have been used for many years in the glass industry in general especially in the fiberglass, TV glass, and container glass industry segments. There are few complete oxy-fuel fired float furnaces in the operation today and they have been using retrofit oxy-fuel burners designed specifically for smaller container or fiberglass furnaces. These conversions were most likely made to meet emissions standards. Known oxy-fuel burners are predominately nozzle mix designs and avoid premixing for safety reasons due to the increased reactivity of using oxygen as the oxidant versus air. Known oxy-fuel burners for submerged combustion are fixed designs, such that once built, they are not easily modified, for example for use with varying melter feeds, fuels, and oxidants.
Therefore, it would be an advance in the submerged combustion art to develop submerged combustion burners to melt glass-forming materials, reduce energy requirements a significant amount in glass manufacturing processes, and to make their implementation attractive, particularly in situations where melter feeds, fuels, and/or oxidants are changing or expected to change.